Tuesday, 3 April 2018

EM-CON, NOTTINGHAM 5th-6th May 2018Sam
Stone and David J Howe join the line-up of guests and this ever popular
event. Copies of all of their latest titles will be available to
purchase at the event, including Sam's new title POSING FOR PICASSO,
published by Wordfire Press, and the regular edition of the Doctor Who spin-offTHE DÆMONSOF DEVIL'S END novelisation.Date:Sunday 5-6th May 2018Address: Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Bolero Square, The Lace Market, Stoney St,
Nottingham, NG1 1LATime: 10am - 6pm

Sunday, 18 March 2018

When I was a child, about 8 years old, I was given extra reading classes at school. My teacher thought I couldn't read. The truth was, I didn't enjoy reading out loud. I wanted to keep the stories I was reading inside my head because when I did they lived. I'd invent dialogues in my imagination with characters, always with the right inflection that each of them had: their own soulful vocals would lend themselves to reveal their true nature.

I have always loved words - ever since I learnt to read. I wanted to absorb them. Feel them. Taste and smell them. I wanted to hear them. Above all I wanted to hog them privately to myself - because that is the beauty of reading. It is a secret and personal joy. It is a lovely and amazing pastime. For a short time a story is yours and yours alone as you connect with it. This is why words are powerful, intimate, magical, poetic and incredibly musical.

When I'm working on a book or story I often think of music (my other passion). To me words are chords and notes. They are the beats that move a story in a certain rhythm. They flow with the energy of music and have their own melody. Writers, like musicians, can hear this flow and then they write the story that comes from their hearts. The story that just has to be told can then be shared.

Some of the greatest works out there have music in them. I refer to writers such as Tanith Lee - sadly missed - she was one of the greatest word musicians in the world.

Maybe you already understand what I mean about music in words ...?

We recognise the rhythm as poetry, poetic prose, a narrative voice: that is the skill of the writer. We label it as verbs, nouns, adjectives, similes and metaphors. It speaks in onomatopoeic tones, and personifies inanimate objects.

And what I feel about this is, that anyone can learn to write if they choose to, but not everyone can hear the music of words. Perhaps the tune is not always to their taste, or is discordant. Whatever it is, when the music is missing the rhythm just isn't there and can't be felt.

So when you are reading something new - perhaps if I'm lucky it will be one of my titles - look out for the music. It might be in the roll of the sea, the caw of a bird flying over a barren wasteland, or maybe it will be the cut-off cry of a victim silenced in the night.

Saturday, 3 February 2018

Having kids
can be a learning curve. For example, I never realised just how lucky I was to
be able to sleep in until 10am every weekend. Before kids, I never really
appreciated just how luxurious it can be to go to the toilet without an
audience.

But being
around kids – whether your own or other peoples’ – can make you look at mundane
matters in a whole different light. They ask questions about the perfectly normal,
but an answer of “just because” is not sufficient. You have to break down mundane
matters to a level that they can understand and which you’ve never thought of
before.

I have a
regular horror movie evening with a female friend every couple of months. I mentioned
this when walking home with my daughter and her friend, and her friend asked
me: “Why do people watch horror movies?”

Without
really thinking, I answered: “Because people like being scared.”

“Why? I don’t
like being scared.”

And there he
had me – why do we watch horror movies? Why do we enjoy being scared as adults,
when it’s the worst possible experience to have as a child? It took a moment of
thinking, but the answer I came up with was: because horror movies are safe,
and because we learn from them. And then, because he was five, he asked me a
question about something completely different.

Horror movies
are just the latest extension of an age-old tradition of storytelling. Before
we had written words, people used to gather around the fire and tell stories.
Stories in those days had a purpose: to educate as much as entertain. This is
perfectly illustrated with fairy tales, which are still around today. Fairy
tales are stories with a moral message. What that message might be has been
changed or interpreted differently over time. One of my favourite fairy tales
is that of Little Red Riding Hood which is constantly being re-examined for both
obvious and hidden meanings ranging from “don’t stray from the path” to an
allegorical tale of a woman’s growing sexual awareness.

To quote the
exceptional Roald Dahl, fairy tales today are very “soft and sappy”. As Dahl so
accurately points out in his Revolting
Rhymes book, fairy tales used to be filled with far more gore and terror
than they are now. For example, the original tale of Rapunzel, as collected by
the Grimm brothers, didn’t have Rapunzel being a witless dolt and saying to her
captor: “Oh my, you weigh so much more than my fair prince!” What actually gave
away their liaison was the fact that she fell pregnant with twins and her
clothes stopped fitting as her belly grew. While these details were included in
the first edition of the Grimms’ work, it was changed by the second edition
when the Grimms decided that pre-marital pregnancy was too immoral for their
audience.

One thing the
brothers did keep in the stories however was the part about the prince falling
down from the tower and being blinded when he fell into a rose bush. It is
interesting to note that sex outside of marriage was seen as objectionable,
while blinding someone or pushing an old woman into an oven was seen as
acceptably necessary to the moral lesson. I have seen some modern children’s
retellings retain the subplot of the prince being blinded, but it’s certainly not
something that you would find in, for example, Disney’s “Tangled.”

An adult’s
love for horror stories – whether in book or movie format – can grow out of a
love of fairy tales, as there are many similar elements in evidence. There is
gore. There are definite good guys and bad guys. Luck can play a strong role.
And there’s always a moral message whether that’s something as simple as “don’t
go into the cellar when you hear weird sounds” or something greater like “don’t
fiddle with DNA and try to play God or your creation will try to eat you.”

In many
modern horror movies and novels, we live vicariously through an experience and
come out the wiser for it. We enjoy watching or reading about other people getting
stalked by the monster because we learn what not to do in the same situation.
At the same time, the story also validates the lessons we already know from the
fairy tales of old: for goodness sake, Natalie Dormer, don’t go off the path in
the suicide forest when you’ve been told not to and your sister is missing. We
all know that you shouldn’t do something that stupid, and we enjoy being proved
right, even as we root for Natalie to get out of it alive.

There are
societal judgments involved in horror movies as well, some of which are
receiving a backlash. The most notable one is the sexual transgression: you can
pretty much guarantee that anyone who has sex in a horror movie is next in line
for killing – we’re right back to Rapunzel’s pregnancy again. Whether it’s
horror stories or fairy tales, you can’t have a woman survive and be the
heroine if she’s had non-marital sex at any point in the narrative.

Horror
stories, whether in the form of movies or books, fills a hole in our psyche. We
want to be aware of the dangers in life – both real and imagined – and know how
best to deal with them should we ever encounter them. We like to see others
triumph, and watch while those we deem unworthy fall prey to whatever is
hunting them. Horror is validating, it’s educational, it’s been around a very
long time and, most likely, is here to stay.

About Charlotte Bond

Charlotte Bond is an author, ghostwriter, freelance editor, reviewer and podcaster.
Under her own name she has written within the genres of horror and dark
fantasy. As a ghostwriter, she's tackled everything from romance to cozy
mystery stories and YA novels. She is a reviewer for the Ginger Nuts of
Horror website, as well as the British Fantasy Society. She is a
co-host of the podcast, Breaking the Glass Slipper.

Monday, 13 November 2017

THE WHO SHOP, Saturday 18th November 2017Some of the authors of this amazing Doctor Who Spin off, will be in store to sign and promote THE DÆMONSOF DEVIL'S END Novelisation and DVD with actress Damaris Hayman, Richard Franklin and David Simeon.

Sunday, 22 October 2017

I'm delighted to reveal the cover for my forthcoming title POSING FOR PICASSO.

Above with a quote from crime writer Mike Ripley. Artwork by the amazing Marcela Bolivar. This supernatural thriller will be published on 10th January 2018 with Wordfire Press.

POSING FOR PICASSO

It was Annabel, and something was wrong with the features … He
thought he saw a triangle, not an irregular jigsaw shape after all. And
it was missing from her face. As if a sharp pastry cutter mould had been
stamped through her skull.

When Detective Jake Chandler is
called in to investigate a murder, nothing can prepare him for the
gruesome sight of Annabel Linton …

Annabel was his model for Russian artist Avgustin Juniper who finds
himself in the centre of the investigation … but he had no motive.

Criminal attorney Cassandra Moúsa sees this a her next big case will stop at nothing to prove her client’s innocence.

But as more of Juniper’s models die, Chandler’s investigation leads him
to four beautiful, unique women and the lost diaries of Pablo Picasso.

Sam
Stone and David J Howe run Author Central in Spaceport at this event.
Please join Chic Festivals, Telos Publishing and Area 51 with a host of
Media and author guests at the Hafan Y Mor Holiday camp in North Wales.
This is a long weekend of Panels, Talks, Music, entertainment, cosplay
and more.

Sam Stone and David J Howe run Author
Central in Spaceport at this event. Please join Chic Festivals, Telos
Publishing and Area 51 with a host of Media and author guests at the
Hafan Y Mor Holiday camp in North Wales. This is a long weekend of
Panels, Talks, Music, entertainment, cosplay and more.

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Jan Edwards
is a Sussex-born writer now living in the West Midlands with her husband and
obligatory cats. She was a Master Locksmith for 20 years but also tried her
hand at bookselling, microfiche photography, livery stable work, motorcycle
sales and market gardening. She is a practising Reiki Master. She won a
Winchester Slim Volume prize and her short fiction can be found in crime,
horror and fantasy anthologies in UK, US and Europe; including The Mammoth Book
of Dracula and The Mammoth Book of Moriarty. Jan edits anthologies for The
Alchemy Press and Fox Spirit Press, and has written for Dr Who spinoffs with
Reel Time Pictures.

I asked her
about the inspiration behind her new crime novel ...

Winter
Downs - Jan Edwards

Winter
Downs grew out of a
deep affection for the South Downs, and of Sussex in particular. My parents
were from Wales and Northumberland but Sussex was the area that I grew up in,
on the cusp between the Sussex Weald and the Downs themselves. Perhaps the very
fact that I was something of an outsider in a close knit community allowed me
to view the place and the people with a dispassionate eye; even though I may
not have realised it at the time.

In
sketching out a setting for Bunch Courtney to dive into with her amateur
sleuthing I deliberately failed to name any specific village. In a city such as
London or Manchester a writer can get away with any fiction they choose because
no matter how accurately the streets are drawn there will always be a level of
anonymity. This is something far harder to do with a small hamlet. Claim that
the Squire of "Upper Bottomley" was a total blaggard and the
descendants of the genuine squire tend to get upset. I do pinpoint a few local
towns to lend a sense of place.

My father's
sister lived and worked on a farm on Devil's Dyke, just above Brighton, and I
was deeply interested from a very young age by the folklore attached to that
particular spot. There are places along the Weald and Downs that have tales of
ancient belief firmly attached. The tree rings of both Chanctonbury and
Sissbury hills for example, or St Leonards Forest where the last dragon in
England was officially reported to have been killed as recently as 1614. Sussex
is rich in dragon lore and even has its very own variety of water dragon called
Knuckers.

There are
almost as many recent myths and legends lurking in the vicinity. Many are
attached to the most beautiful of counties. Dark legends such as
John George Haigh, the Acid Bath Murderer; Christiana Edmunds, the
Chocolate Cream Poisoner or the as yet unsolved Brighton Trunk murders. And of
course the fishing villages of the Sussex coast have been as rife with
smugglers as any Cornish cove.

I was (and
still am) an avid listener, and when the adults talked, regaling each other
with details of local gossip, I listened. Some of the talk was dark and
much was not, but all made for excellent background material that I can
always draw on for local colour. Stories such as the vicious bull who wore an iron
mask to prevent him charging anything that moved using his senses of scent and
sound to follow my aunt across a field. Or the darker report of the local lad
who almost blew his hands off making home made bombs to go fishing in the River
Arun.

Added to
these old tales of course was the spectre of the WW2. With occupied France jus
a matter of fifty or so miles across the English Channel tales of that era were
often to be heard at social gatherings and those, along with the remnants of
pill boxes and bunkers as well as hastily built air strips. The War Department
began requisitioning large country houses in 1939. Some as schools and others
as rehabilitation centres or just plain military billets. Not all of them
survived that allied occupation. Shillinglee Park in Sussex was famously burned
to the ground by Canadian soldiers living there - allegedly after a riotous
party if local rumour was to be believed twenty years after the event.
Shillinglee was rebuilt, but a similar the ruins of Appeldurcombe on the
Isle of Wight, which suffered a similar fate can still be seen.

All of
these things had an impact on me and when writing Winter Downs I brought
together the notions of requisitioned houses and a country waiting and watching
for the enemy to strike from across the water, and adding the joys of heavy
snow to hamper movements and smother potential evidence, went a long way to
weaving an everyday tale of murderous Sussex folk!

Winter
Downs is just the first in the series with two more roughed out and ideas for
many more. This will not be the last you hear of Bunch Courtney and her nemesis
Chief Inspector Wright.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WINTER
DOWNS.

3rd June 2017 | Penkhull Press

ISBN 978-0-9930008-6-7

Paperback £9.99 | ebook £2.99
tbc

In January
of 1940 a small rural community on the Sussex Downs, already preparing for
invasion from across the Channel, finds itself deep in the grip of a snowy landscape,
with an ice-cold killer on the loose.

Bunch
Courtney stumbles upon the body of Jonathan Frampton in a woodland clearing. Is
this a case of suicide, or is it murder? Bunch is determined to discover the
truth but can she persuade the dour Chief Inspector Wright to take her
seriously?

Saturday, 6 May 2017

After being under the hospital for over a year now, and after going
through two mammograms, a biopsy, the draining of cysts, and various
other scares, I can no longer put myself through this stress.
Therefore I'll be going into hospital at the end of June to have risk reducing surgery in the form of a double mastectomy and reconstruction.

Naturally, this was not a decision I took lightly.

My sister Sharna is recovering from breast cancer and we have lost a niece and, possibly, our grandmother to the disease. On top of that my nephew has recently survived Lung cancer. There have been various other family members diagnosed over the last few years too. As a result, my family have been diagnosed as high risk.

I am incredibly grateful to the NHS hospital who is dealing with this and for the amazing support from the Macmillian nursing team. They have been there for us every step of the way and have helped me make an informed decision that I know is the right one for me.

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

ASYLUM, LINCOLN, 26-29th August 2016Sam Stone, David Howe, and Raven Dane attend this wonderful Steampunk event of the year!Specific events and places we'll be ...Saturday - 1-2pm Telos Publishing with Sam Stone, Raven Dane and David J Howe - MEET AND MERCH in the castle! Sunday
August - We'll be trading in Cathedral Centre - which is open to the
public and we will also be doing a panel SAM STONE AND FRIENDS there at 4-4.45pm.Time: ALL WeekendAddress: Lincoln Town Centre, VariousDate:26th-29th August 2016For more information and to book:AsylumWHOOVERVILLE 8, 3rd Sept, DerbySam Stone and David J Howe join the guests at this super one day event in Derby.Time: 10am-5pmAddress: Derby QUAD, Market Place, Cathedral Quarter, Derby DE1 3ASDate: 3rd September 2016For more informationWhooverville

UK BOOK FESTIVAL, XXII, Nottingham, 1 Oct 2016Sam
Stone and David Howe will be attending this great Nottingham event.
LEARN TO WRITE HORROR with Sam, in an interactive writing workshop
(Please Bring Pad and Pen). And Join David as he talks about the history
of Doctor Who's Target Books and the amazing art that became iconic.Time: 10am-4pmAddress: County Hall, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 7QPDate: 1st October 2016For More Information visit New Writers Uk New Writers Uk

LONG ISLAND WHO, Long Island, New York, USA, 11-13 Nov 2016Sam
Stone, David J Howeand Frazer Hines are delighted to be returning to 'Long Island
Iced Tea' Convention at Hyatt Regency, Long Island.
There will be more Match Game and great panels at this ever growing
event as it takes place for the fourth year running.Time: ALL WEEKENDAddress: Hyatt Regency Long Island,1717 Moter Parkway, Hauppauge, New York, USA, 11788Date: 11-13 November 2016

SCI-FI WEEKENDER 8. Pwllheli, 30th MArch -2nd April 2017Sam Stone, David J Howe and Linzi Gold will be returning to this fabulous event of the year in North Wales.Join them and James Marster, Frazer Hines, Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook, Wendy Padbury, Gareth David-Lloyd, Freda Warrington, Phil Ford, Jenny T Colgan, and many more guests.Time: All WeekendAddress: Hafan Y Mor Holiday Park, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, North Wales, LL53 6HJDate: 30th MArch-2nd April 2017

INFINITY 7 - RUGBY SCI-FI, Rugby, 20th May 2017Sam Stone
and David J Howe will be attending this exciting Infinity 7 Events in
Rugby, Sam will be presenting one of her writing workshops, and if you
wish to attend this please bring a pad and pen! David and Sam will also give a talk on writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, with an opportunity for the audience to ask questions.For Further InformationRUGBY SCIFI

Monday, 11 July 2016

LINDUM BOOKS, Lincoln, Sat 16th July 2016
Sam
Stone and David Howe are thrilled to be will be signing copies of their
new titles at Lindum Bookshop in Lincoln. Copies of JADED JEWEL, JINX
MAGIC and THE TARGET BOOK as well as Sam's other titles will be on sale
prior to, and during, the event.

Thursday, 30 June 2016

I'm a bit of a foodie these days and so I thought I might start to put up my thoughts about local restaurants in the area.

First off :

CAFE ZOOT, Bailgate, Lincoln.

David and I have eaten at Cafe Zoot quite a few times in the past. We've even taken friends there and my overall perception of the place is that it is an efficiently run restaurant with very pleasant surroundings. Comfortable seating with some intimate areas as well as front of the house tables.

I have mostly sat at the back part of the restaurant (which I prefer because it is more intimate) or once or twice we've been upstairs.

We haven't eaten there for a while, but today, as a treat because I'd just finished writing POSING FOR PICASSO - my fifteenth novel - David took me into Lincoln and our first choice of eating place was Cafe Zoot.

There are many really good restaurants in Lincoln that I'll discuss another time but for lunch this one is not the cheapest, is slightly upmarket, and food tends to be more Noveau Cuisine.

We decided we'd have a more substantial lunch than we usually do. I often opt for a Jacket Potato at some restaurants and cafes when I'm trying to take the healthy option - but Cafe Zoot doesn't have those on the menu - so we both went for Blue Cheese Mushrooms to start. David chose Chicken Supreme as his main and I opted for Calamari Salad.

STARTER Blue Cheese Mushrooms £5.25.

Presentation

It wasn't what we were expecting to be honest as I had perhaps
thought the mushrooms would be stuffed with blue cheese in bread crumbs
and the sauce around them or separate for dipping.

What arrived was mushrooms sauted in a blue cheese and walnut sauce, and it came is a wide brimmed bowl that had a very small, shallow bowl area. Also with this was a piece of bread which could have been wholegrain and was possibly homemade.

Presentation mostly relied on the white bowl - not really anything more than a dish of mushrooms in a brownish sauce really. But it did look tasy anyway. David remarked afterwards that blue cheese crumbled on the top might have enhanced the look of this dish.

Flavour

The bread alone tasted a little stale - but I'm not a lover of hardish breads so I'm assuming it was meant to be that way. I had to ask for butter as they didn't automatically bring it. With butter the bread was better and easier to eat.

The mushrooms themselves were very tasty. I could taste the blue cheese in the sauce. Thought it was rather salty, but nicely flavoured. I ate it all quickly. The bread and butter did compliment this wet dish in the end too.

Portion Size

Small portion as my 'Noveau Cuisine' comment above suggests. Could have eaten much more of it. But knowing I had a main coming I didn't worry too much or think this was a problem. (Best to have less and leave you wanting more, I think!) So satisfactory portion size.

Service Between Courses/ Staff Attentiveness

Service was fairly quick and we didn't have to wait too long for the mains which they brought together. We were asked if we had enjoyed the first course. We had, so we said so.

MAIN Calamari Salad £10.50/ Supreme of Chicken £13.95

Presentation
David's Supreme of Chicken had a substantial piece of chicken breast with a small amount of mash, a couple of carrots and a tiny piece of brocolli. All were surrounded by an impressive sauce which was a vibrant green. Overall the presentation was extremely nice. The Chicken looked as though it had been pan-fried and was nicely browned. Overall lovely presentation. It looked appetising.

My Calamari Salad came in a wide shallow bowl and this was the first surprise. The calamari was not hot, nor was it battered. This was an assumption I had made - obviously wrongly. It was mixed into a salad which didn't look particularly appetising as it was the usual salad bits with boring white calamari rings in it and a couple of wedges of lemon.

Flavour

Calamari Salad

The cherry tomotoes were fresh in the salad but, even after squeezing the lemon over it, the calamari and salad had absolutely no flavour to any of it. The calamari was rubbery. Bland. Not good at all.

I have never in my life complained in a restaurant - but when the young man who was serving came to ask if we liked it I told him I was disappointed and that the meal was bland. It absolutely had no taste at all to it. I could have been eating anything. He said he would mention it to the kitchen and he disappeared. Soon after, my plate barely touched - I sent the meal back.

Supreme of Chicken

I did taste David's meal and it was as nice as it looked. He really enjoyed the small carrots and said they were tasty as well as the delicious sauce and mash. His only complaint was that the chicken was a little over done and quite dry, but the delicious sauce made up for this. He ate all of his meal.Portion Sizes

As expected for the type of restaurant. A little on the small side but as in the case of the Chicken very tasty and nicely presented.

Salads vary and you never know what you'll get from one place to another with size. I had no expectations therefore and wasn't disappointed by the size. There was a fair amount of Calamari rings in the salad. Sadly though it was flavourless. Otherwise, portion was fine.

After Dinner Service.

I cannot fault the service here because the manageress (I think) came to see me and had removed the price of the Calamari Salad from our bill (rightly so as I didn't eat it). She apologised for herself and for the staff member who I had given my meal back to (apparently he should have offered me another meal choice but didn't know the procedure).

He was very apologetic and I told him that I completely understood and it was fine. And you can't be cross if people treat you fairly and are polite to you!! I felt they handled us really well. Good service, even to acknowledge and admit where they failed.

Would I Go Back?

Absolutely!

The food in this restaurant is usually really good - I've had other meals there and this was the first to disappoint. So yes. Very willing to try it again.

They handled my complaint really well and also listened afterwards when I explained what I thought could improve the calamari (hot and battered would have been an improvement and some form of seasoning on that and the salad too).

Review 6/10 this time. But I'm sure it will be much better when we go again.